From Duke University , another Durban doozy, yes we’ll have roasted fowl in the trees because they may not be moving fast enough.
DURHAM, N.C. — Tropical birds are moving to higher elevations because of climate change, but they may not be moving fast enough, according to a new study by Duke University researchers.
The study, published Thursday in the peer-reviewed online journal PLoS ONE, finds that the birds aren’t migrating as rapidly as scientists previously anticipated, based on recorded temperature increases.
The animals instead may be tracking changes in vegetation, which can only move slowly via seed dispersal.
“This is the first study to evaluate the effects of warming on the elevation ranges of tropical birds,” said Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of conservation ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and a co-author of the study. “It provides new evidence of their response to warming, but also shows there is a delay in their response.”
Evidence from temperate areas, such as North America and Europe, shows that many animal and plant species are adapting to climate change by migrating northward, breeding earlier or flowering earlier in response to rising temperatures.
“However, our understanding of the response of tropical birds to warming is still poor,” said German Forero-Medina, a Ph.D. student at Duke’s Nicholas School who is lead author of the new study. “Moving to the north doesn’t help them, because tropical temperatures do not change very much with latitude. So moving up to higher elevations is the only way to go, but there are few historical data that can serve as baselines for comparison over time.”
What is going on with tropical species at higher altitudes is important, Forero-Medina said, because about half of all birds species live 3,500 feet or more above sea level, and of these species, more than 80 percent may live within the tropics.
In 2010, the authors of the new study and a team of biologists participated in an expedition to the summit of the remote Cerros del Sira mountains in central Peru – a place visited by only a few ornithologists on prior occasions. The complex topography, geology and climate of the mountains have produced isolated patches of habitat with unique avian communities and distinct taxa.
Forero-Medina and his colleagues used survey data collected on bird species in the region in the 1970s by John Terborgh, research professor emeritus at Duke, to compare past and present distributions.
“Using John Terborgh’s groundbreaking data — the first ever collected from this region –gave us a unique opportunity to understand the effects of 40 years of warming on tropical birds,” Forero-Medina says.
The biologists found that although the ranges of many bird species have shifted uphill since Terborgh’s time, the shifts fell short of what scientists had projected based on temperature increases over the four decades.
“This may be bad news,” Pimm said. “Species may be damned if they move to higher elevations to keep cool and then simply run out of habitat. But, by staying put, they may have more habitat but they may overheat.”
CITATION: “Elevational Ranges of Birds on a Tropical Montane Gradient Lag Behind Warming Temperatures” German Forero-Medina, John Terborgh, S. Jacob Socolar & Stuart L. Pimm. PLoS ONE, Dec. 7, 2011.
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Hugh Pepper says:
December 8, 2011 at 9:37 am
I really do hope for your sake that you are trying to take the piss?
“The study, published Thursday in the peer-reviewed online journal PLoS ONE”
Is this supposed to mean the study was peer reviewed or the journal is peer reviewed?
Or is it a play on words to infer the study is peer reviewed when it is not?
OH BOY! Duck LaRonge!!!! Any turkeys in the Climes,other than the Warmers?
According to another Duke study, trees are having a similar problem….
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/10/31/Trees-not-adapting-well-to-climate-change/UPI-58271320108118/
Probably not, but it is even worse than most of his drivel – so I could be wrong.
Animals adapt very well. The Potomac and Chesapeake Bay are supporting large and growing populations of Bald Eagles and Osprey. Polar Bear populations recovered from their over-hunted low. The examples go on and on. All that is necessary for them to succeed is for us to stop killing them.
Want these birds to survive in a world of changing climate? Great, do something about the feral cat population and don’t let your cats out at night. Done.
“Moving to the north doesn’t help them, because tropical temperatures do not change very much with latitude. So moving up to higher elevations is the only way to go, but there are few historical data that can serve as baselines for comparison over time.” – sounds like a license to create your assumptions and bias’ from whole clothe!
My God,
Does that mean my KFC burger will be pre-heated before it hits the bun?
This is just my highly unqualified observation, but it seems that every year when we are about to have a terrible winter here in Texas, (terrible for Texas, that is) our backyards fill up with Cardinals (no, not Spanish Inquisition Cardinals, which would indeed be unexpected), who seem to be fleeing more northerly climes. Normally, we don’t see Cardinals here, especially in our summer, but somehow these little birds must be far more adaptable (or more clever) than their tropical counterparts, flying from the Wisconsin region just to see us in Northern Texas.
@TomB : This article should help: http://style.org/unladenswallow/
The general ‘sense’ ( if that is the right word) is that the migration northwards represents the birds ‘fleeing’ to cooler climes where life will be more bearable. Actually what is happening is that the birds follow the food. Earlier flowering means earlier seeds/fruit; spread of vegetation northwards decreases competition for food as the mass of vegetation increases; quantity of food increases as the plants migrate; seed/fruit production begins earlier and lasts longer.
Birds have been around for a long, long time, and I guess they have survived – just maybe – by adapting to the conditions.
This year, in the UK, several bird species raised multiple broods because of the abundance of food and the clement weather, migration from Scandinavia was delayed – not because it was too hot further south, but because there was no need to migrate whilst food supplies and good weather lasted.
And maybe that ‘delay in their response’ happens to be equal to the delay in propagation of the particular plants they feed off.
The new and improved turbo diesel KFC burger with pre-heat igniton. What a flavor burst in my mouth. The climate of my appetite just went into hockey overdrive.
How many millions of years have birds been around? 100 million or so? I think the birds have got it figured out by now. $hit happens. Deal with it.
This article fails to mention that plants are living organisms, too. Their ranges will shift in response to the abiotic factors influencing them and the local habitat/ecosystem will shift in response. There could be an increase or decrease in area. It really doesn’t matter. The changes won’t be overnight and all the organisms in the area will adapt.
steveta_uk, don’t insult the birds!
“However, our understanding of the response of tropical birds to warming is still poor,” said German Forero-Medina, a Ph.D. student .
No kidding! What makes these clowns think that tropical birds cannot handle a range of temperatures. They are warm-blooded (homeotherms) with control of their metabolism. They will go where the plants are that they eat or live off of. The idea that the plants cannot move fast enough to handle climate changes is bogus as they have been through numerous climate changes over the eons and are obviously still here.
The rampant species extinctions that are predicted have not happened at all – that would be none, nada, zilch, and none. Did I say none?
Since we are cooling, I would love to see how they measure the upward movement of the birds to higher altitude. Methinks some poor , but grant-funded bias is at work here.
We still haven’t seen an explanation as to why Canadian geese aren’t returning to Canada but rather staying around their southern winter habitat around Delaware.
I wonder when they will ask to ban glass windows.
I have birds that run into my glass windows about 2 or 3 times a week. We have put all kinds of items on the glass to try to make it clear that it isn’t a passageway but it still happens.
The statements supporting the catastrophic impact of global warming are astounding in their stupidity.
Has Earth ever been warmer than now? Uh…let’s see. Hmmm. During the past 500 million years, MOST of the time, Earth’s temperature was 6 to 12 C higher than now. So if we’re in a panic over a 1.5C increase in the past 150 years and going another 5C means the end of the world, why isn’t the planet already a sterile rock pile from past ‘catastrophic’ temperatures?
Oh, wait. I forgot. Those changes were *natural*, while *human-caused* warming will destroy the world. It’s amazing how different human-released CO2 is from *natural* CO2. I guess it’s so dangerous because of all the hot air that accompanies it.
What ever else has changed this ‘research’ reminds that the AGW research funding bucket is still deep and well filled and their are plenty of people wanting to deep into it . While linking yourself into the ’cause ‘ is still seen as good way to advanced your academic career by some .
Last time I checked the birds had those wing thingys that let them get around quite rapidly. But hey, maybe it’s different in Peru. Or maybe they haven’t moved, because nothings changed as far as they’re concerned. Choice is important.
Still I find that reading the article is much improved if accompanied by this –
where are the poor old turkeys going to go I will have to apply for a grant $1000000 should be enought
Surely these smart birds are moving to higher elevations because the mid and upper tropical troposphere isn’t warming as much as the models predict?
Unless the Ornithologist tied his meaningless research to global warming he wouldn’t have gotten funded. Keeps him/her busy for awhile, but does starve meaningful research of funds.
“The animals instead may be tracking changes in vegetation, which can only move slowly via seed dispersal.”
Yeah and what is one of the primary ways seed disperse, by being carried by birds. Can you say catch 22?
Hmmm…so it`s “bad news“ if some tropical bird “species may be damned“ because of increasing heat. No word about their temporate relatives survival rates in the shadow of windmills. Hmmmm
Murray
Oh sure, and lowland deforestation (for all those palms for making palm oil) and urbanization have absolutely nothing to do with this!